Dominion fight costing city $68K

According to Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Sousa, the city has been billed for $67,500 to date in the fight to recoup part of a $1.6 million settlement decree with the energy conglomerate Dominion.

Jo C. Goode Herald News Staff Reporter @jgoodeHN

FALL RIVER — As Mayor Will Flanagan’s law department attempts to recoup part of a $1.6 million settlement decree with the energy conglomerate Dominion in a U.S. District Court in central Illinois, the cost to litigate the case by an outside law firm are rising.

According to Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Sousa, the law firm of Nixon Peabody has billed the city $67,500 to date.

A hearing is set in Illinois on Monday at 2:30 p.m. to hear the city’s request that the court extend a Nov. 1, 2013, deadline so the city can submit its proposals.

Dominion, the former owner of Brayton Point Power Station, settled a suit with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice regarding violations of the Clean Air Act. As part of the settlement, Somerset and Fall River were to split $1.6 million, with the funds to be used for clean-energy proposals. The city claims Dominion acted unfairly in the process after Somerset was granted the entire award when Fall River did not submit its proposals before a deadline.

Sousa was the original lawyer charged with working with Dominion when the Environmental Protection Agency announced the consent agreement in April 2013. The job was taken over by Assistant Corporation Counsel Christy DiOrio in September 2013.

In February, several city councilors expressed doubt the city could prevail in the Dominion case and said they were concerned about the cost of outside legal representation.

City Councilor Raymond Mitchell, one of the more outspoken members regarding the case, called the city’s lawsuit outrageous when the legal department “dropped the ball.”

“I honestly believe we were late to the table,” Mitchell said. “It’s a weak case and so far we’ve thrown away almost $68,000 at a time when we need every dime.”

Flanagan has defended spending in his law department, which has steadily increased since taking office from $576,723 in 2011 to $628,218 in 2014.

Flanagan compared his law budget to those of former Mayor Robert Correia, who spent nearly $1 million annually for in-house legal work.

Mitchell countered the mayor’s claim, saying it isn’t a fair comparison because at the time the city was fighting the Weaver’s Cove LNG proposal.

On Thursday, Flanagan said he truly believes the city was done an injustice by Dominion.

“If I truly believed a human error was made on behalf of the city, I’d make a decision to cut our losses, move on and apologize,” Flanagan said. “I fully reviewed it and a mistake was not made by the city.”

Flanagan said the city tried to sit down and resolve the issue amicably, but Dominion refused and the city was forced to seek legal relief.

He said the law department is monitoring the costs associated with the legal action, and at some points if the costs outweigh the benefits, consideration will be made.

“With that kind of money we could almost fund one firefighter position. This is really wasteful spending in my view,” said City Councilor Michael Miozza, referring to Flanagan’s plan to layoff 60 firefighters in July.

Miozza had spoken out against the administration litigating the issue.

If the city fails to prevail in court, it could cost more than simply fees for Nixon Peabody on the case. In March, Dominion filed a motion asking the court to impose sanctions on Fall River including, but not limited to, expenses and lawyer fees. It cited, among a number of claims, that the consent decree contains a provision that does not grant rights to third parties.

The city administration discovered through reports in The Herald News in November that Somerset would receive the entire $1.6 million and that the city had failed to file its energy plan by the deadline date.

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